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Tattooed Louis Vuitton pigs banned from contemporary art show in Shanghai

Tattooed Louis Vuitton pigsChina loves its pigs, and Shanghai has said NO to pig cruelty. In latest news, the eight pigs tattooed with Louis Vuitton logoes and other Walt Disney characters — highly controversial works of art by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye — has been banned by the organisers of SHContemporary, the city's largest contemporary art fair. No explicit reason has been given by spokespeople for the ban. From Bloomberg:

Workers, escorted by security guards, dismantled the sty at the Shanghai Exhibition Center at 11:30 a.m., said Xin Beijing Gallery's manager Yu Tiantian, the dealer of Delvoye's work. The pigs, tattooed with Walt Disney Co. characters and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA's motif, were banned from the art fair which starts tomorrow and ends Sept. 13. Yu wouldn't say if the government had ordered the ban. Gu Zihua, spokesman for SHContemporary, declined to comment.
Quite understandably, the artist Wim Delvoye was not too happy. He told Bloomberg:

``It's unbelievable how aggressive they are becoming in stopping this show... We have collectors who've traveled to China all the way from Europe to see the pigs. They're very disappointed.''
The article also sheds some light on how Delvoye's living works of art were bred and sold:
Delvoye bred his pigs on a farm outside Beijing, letting his tattoos grow with the animals. The animals' skins are sold for up to 7,500 euros ($10,600) a piece. A canvas, marked with Walt Disney characters, was sold to Chanel SA and made into two bags, displayed at the fashion group's Feb. 26 Mobile Art exhibition in Hong Kong, according to Delvoye's spokeswoman Xia Jie.
Eww.

Photo from art218.com

Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Kenneth Tan in on September 9, 2008 6:07 PM

Comments [rss]

  • Capricorn

    Hey Eastman, you are a complete moron.



    Have a nice day loser.

  • RUSHOUR1

    To shopgirl,



    --"if it was a Chinese artist who have done that. everybody would slam him or her".



    I'd be more interested in everybody's reaction if it were Chinese who dropped bombs and killed some dozens of innocent civilians in Afghan lately.

  • shopgirl

    THAT is so sick!!!

    interesting that it didnt become a scandal when a belgian artist did that, if it was a Chinese artist who have done that. everybody would slam him or her.



    fucking hypocrites.

  • EL JEFE

    Maybe it was a copyright issue? Anyway, Andy Warhol did this shit decades ago. Wim should work on his own style rather than rehash someone else's groundbreaking ideas. How about a painting of Mao holding a Nike shoe? Or Lei Feng with a Golden Arches? Yawn...

  • La ruta de La Rotta

    Collectors who've traveled to China to see the pigs are now dissapointed? Perhaps they can visit the bile farms just to get the taste on the missed animal cruelty.

  • Michael_Michael

    Hopefully the ban just brings it more publicity, as expected. This is one of the best comments on contemporary Chinese society I've seen...

  • snowisred

    Good , at least Shanghai has shown itself to be a leading city in China, people are more aware of animal cruelty.

  • 2much4U

    Only for pigs, they see nothing wrong with torturing cats, dogs, or other domesticated animals.

    Farm animals are treated better than most people there though. @@

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